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Harry Potter Fanon Wiki:Manual of Style
The Harry Potter Fanon Wiki has a set of article guidelines, also known as the Manual of Style, that all articles are required to follow. For information on the most basic writing techniques and styles, see Wikipedia's Manual of Style. Layout guide In-universe All in-universe articles should be structured as follows: # Title/Infobox # Main article # Stub # Behind the scenes (notice the capitalization) # Appearances # Succession box # Notes and references # See also # External links # Interwiki links # Category For more details as to what each section of an article should contain, see the Layout Guide. Please note that not all articles use every section. OOU articles on reference works All out-of-universe articles on topics such as stories should generally be structured as follows. This list is typically more flexible than main articles. # Title/Infobox # Introduction # Stub # Summary # Plot summary # Excerpts # Appearances # Continuity # Cover gallery # Succession box # Notes and references # See also # External links # Interwiki links # Category List for "Appearances" Use for the list of characters, creatures, etc. under the "Appearances" heading. If an official "Dramatis Personae" is provided, substitute |dramatis personae= and |other characters= for the current |characters= parameter. For additional subsections such as "Languages", use bold-formatted headers under |miscellanea=. See the usage notes on Template:App for more information. Keep note that usage of this template is entirely optional. Appearances Naming articles There are some rules regarding how articles on the Harry Potter Fanon Wiki should be named. For more details, see the naming policy. The name of the article should be bolded in its first usage in an intro, as should any alternate names mentioned in the intro. These bolded titles should not have links within them. Using the # Do not use the # in a link unless you intend to direct to a section of that article with the title after the # as a section. When linking to articles, particularly books and guides with numbers denoting their order, omit the # and simply put the number. Otherwise the software will look for that number as a section title on the page. You can use piped links to account for this. For example, ''Random Harry Potter Article 3'' #4 would give you Random Harry Potter Article 3 #4. Perspective In-universe If something is in-universe, or is described as such, it belongs to its fan-fictional universe exclusively, and not to the real world. Using the normal Harry Potter Wiki as an example, characters are in-universe, but the actors who play them are out-of-universe. For example, an article with "Alicia Spinnet was a Chaser '''in the first five books'"'' should be changed to "Alicia Spinnet was a Chaser '''from 1991 to 1996'". The only section where out-of-universe information is appropriate is the "Behind the scenes" section and its subsections of an in-universe article. See below for more details. Out-of-universe '''Out-of-universe' refers to the perspective in which an article is written; it is the opposite of in-universe. Something written from an out-of-universe (OOU) perspective is written from a real-life point of view. It will refer, for example, to real-life publications, authors, events, and so on, acknowledging that its subject is fictional. In contrast, an in-universe perspective will strive for verisimilitude; that is, it will be written as though the author existed within the story's universe. Articles about any in-universe things, such as characters, objects, terminology, or species, should always be written from an in-universe perspective. Headings Use the (heading) markup for headings, not the ' ('bold') markup. Example: : This is a heading which produces: :This is a heading If you mark headings this way, a table of contents is automatically generated from the headings in an article. Sections can be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings are given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article. *Capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in a heading, and leave all of the other letters in lower case. *Avoid links within headings. *Avoid overuse of sub-headings. Usage and spelling Though the readers and editors of the HP Fanon Wiki speak many varieties of English, we have a preference for both British and American English spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage. When editing public articles, the editor must abide by the version of English which is already in use within the article, and must not alter the entire article to fit their preferred version of the language. Tense Serving more as a suggestion, instead of an official policy, articles should be written in the past tense, as if the editor is writing from a point in the future after the events in the story have taken place. This is to maintain a consistent and uniform feel to the articles, and to eliminate ambiguity by switching tenses in the middle of an article. By keeping to a single standard, there is no room for misinterpretation. Writing in-universe articles in past tense properly relates the timeline of that universe with our own perspective. Despite this, do not include phrases like "his ultimate fate is unknown" or "what happened to Hagrid's bike after the battle is a mystery." Exceptions to this are articles which relate to more static concepts, such as deities and species, unless these of course, no longer exist in the fan-fictional universe they originate from. Articles about objects still have to be written in the past tense Capital letters Families When creating an article or category about a family, it should not be titled as "Potter Family", but as "Potter family" instead. Organisations The name of organisations should always be capitalised. A incorrect sentence would be "''Lucius Malfoy was a death eater", the correct version being "Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater". Species When writing an article, the name of a species should not be capitalised. For example, writing "Dobby was an house-elf" is correct, while writing "Dobby was an House-Elf" is not. This goes for all sentient and non-sentient species. Exceptions to this are species not original to the canonical Harry Potter universe. These may come from either crossovers, or original creations from an author. Ranks and titles Ranks and titles are to be capitalized when they immediately precede an individual's name. Do not capitalize ranks or titles when used as a substitute for the name. For example, "A very powerful wizard, Professor Albus Dumbledore was greatly feared by Voldemort. However, he was later killed by Severus Snape atop the Astronomy Tower." There are some ranks the name of which should always be capitalized, no matter the semantics. Miscellaneous grammar Apostrophes and possessives ending in "s" While plural nouns ending in "s" should be made possessive by adding only an apostrophe, singular nouns ending in "s" can be made possessive by adding either an apostrophe followed by another "s" or simply an apostrophe, providing each article is consistent throughout. Quotations Quotations should follow this general format: *If the quote is less than a paragraph long, simply including it in the article's body with "quotation marks" will suffice. *If the quote is at least a paragraph in length, or a dialogue, insert as a block quote: ::"Block quotes are indented with a colon at the beginning of each new paragraph. Each paragraph needs only one colon, not a new colon for each line (word wrap will accomplish this automatically). ::New paragraphs, however, do require their own colon." Please be sure to provide as much information as possible (for instance: source, page if applicable, and characters speaking if applicable). *Users should not correct the capitalization, spelling, grammar, or word usage within direct quotes taken from the source. *Redundant internal links should not be added to quotes because they serve little purpose beyond making the quotes appear cluttered and messy. Links should only be added to quotes if they contain a specific article's ONLY mention of a particular concept, but even then, it is better to integrate the internal link into the body of the article's text. *Piped links should be avoided as much as possible because they appear unprofessional and are generally distracting. If the context of the quote is not readily apparent, it is best to add appropriate information to the quote attribution field of the quote template rather than adding piped links to ambiguous pronouns such as "you," "he," or "they." Linking A subject should be linked once upon its first mention in the article's infobox, once upon its first mention in the article's intro, and once upon its first mention in the article's main body. Miscellaneous guidelines *'Canon characters category' - Do not add your articles to the Canon characters category. That one is for the articles of the genuine canonical characters, whose purpose is to link to the main wiki. *'Videos' – Unless they serve a clear purpose in the article, such as illustrating something related to it, videos are not an allowed feature. *'Appropriate content' – All fanon (or fan-fiction content) articles are subject to the content policy of this wiki. No exception. *'Off-topic articles' – Articles which are not related to Harry Potter or its fandom will be removed. Spam and vandalism will also share this fate. *'Deletion' – The ultimate fate of any article which breaks these (and other) guidelines, and is not corrected in time.